Obituaries

Former Juneau resident, Walter "Walt" O'Neal Sinn, died on April 17, 2001, in Friday Harbor, Wash.

He was born March 29, 1914, in Gilbert, Iowa. As a young man he earned a living as a professional motorcycle stunt rider at state and county fairs throughout the Midwest. In 1942 he moved to Ketchikan, where he worked on a rock crusher. He later moved to Juneau joining the Coast Guard and served in World War II when he was stationed at Scotchcap Lighthouse and Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands.

He married Doris Macomber in Juneau in 1944 at the Masonic Temple where he was an active 32nd degree member. He was also a 14th degree Scottish Rite member. His daughter, Donna Lee, was born in 1946.

After the war, he joined the city police in Juneau serving until 1949, when he joined the Alaska Territorial Police, the predecessor of the Alaska State Troopers. Carrying Territorial Police badge No. 1, he served across Alaska. In many towns and villages, as in Barrow, he was the first resident peace officer. He retired in 1971, with 21 years of service.

On September, 26 1970, he married Jean Rae Engle. They later divorced.

He was an avid outdoorsman and loved to hunt, fish and trap. The family wrote that he was extremely generous helping others when they were struggling and that he had a tremendous sense of humor.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Doris of Fairbanks, in 1960.

He is survived by his daughter and Donna Lee Cavanaugh and her husband Bob Myers, grandson and his wife Edward and Jill Davidson, step-grandsons Robert and Michael Myers and great-granddaughter Katherine all from Fairbanks.

A funeral with full police honors will be held in Fairbanks April 28, 1 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes. A memorial service was held April 21 in Friday Harbor, Wash.

For more information about the Fairbanks service, call the family at (907) 451-7212.